As a tight-fisted Northerner the price of a pint is close to my heart. But those helpful folks at Mitchells & Butlers have revealed how leased pubs are charging more per pint than managed outlets.
Raising the spectre of the dreaded beer-tie (where the volume of specific beers sold directly impacts on the landlords rent) the average price of a pint of lager in a leased pub in April was £2.63, a price that has risen by 12p since September.
However the average price per pint of lager in your averaged managed pub at the same time was just under £2.50, and this price has risen by 10p in the past seven months.
Finally, giving M&B its plug (this is its research after all), its average pint of lager costs just £2.23 in April and has risen by just 5p during the same period.
The cheapest place to buy booze is, of course, the supermarket where the average price per pint is approximately 70p having risen by just 8p.
With micro-economics like these no wonder the traditional British pub is under threat. How can the individual boozer compete with the managed giants across the country, let alone the supermarkets?
No wonder a group of MP's have asked the Competition Commission to address the dominance of Britain's largest pub companies and make rents sustainable. Now, if only we all had faith that these proposals might result in something more tangible for struggling landlords.
